Austin 7 Special

Restoration/Building of an Austin 7 Special

Today was the annual hill climb for the club so I went off to that this morning. Was a bit quieter than last year but this great Bentley made up for it. I always loved those cars. When I was younger and someone said vintage car that’s what I would think of. The blower on it is bigger than the whole engine in my Austin 7! I think I like them because the engineering on it is very railway.

Joss found a oil plug for me so on the way home I went to grab that off him and went to buy some oil. Luckily it was 2 for $54 dollars although the guy tried to charge me full price (about $75) until I questioned the price and pointed out teh display right inside the front door with the price on it! I am just running Castrol GTX 20W50 in the engine and gearbox. It’s what I use in the MGB too so that’s handy. It’s cheap and you can get it anywhere and it says on it it works in older cars. I don’t go by mileage, I just change the engine oil every year.

So the oil is all now filled up and the car running again. I am still cleaning my old switch panel but I will wire that in soon. The one in the Chummy is a bit dodgy.

On the special I touched up the white paint on the back of the instrument panel. It’s not perfect but then again it’s the back of an instrument panel so perfection is not required! The wrinkle finish on the front came out brilliantly though.

If I get brave and the weather is good I might drive the Chummy to work this week. My boss cycles so his parking space is usually free.